Saturday, January 26, 2008

Reform Movement redirects here. For specific organizations by that name, see Reform Movement (disambiguation) A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society rather than rapid or fundamental changes. Reformists' ideas are often grounded in liberalism, although they may be rooted in utopian, socialist or religious concepts. Some rely on personal transformation; others rely on small collectives, such as Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel and the self sustaining village economy, as a mode of social change. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements. Reactionary movements, which can arise against any of these, attempt to put things back the way they were before whatever successes of the new movement(s), or prevent any such successes in the first place. United States reform movements of the 1840s - 1930s